A volcanic eruption was identified on the island on 2 May 2012, though the size of the eruption is unknown.[2]
The volcano on the island erupted again in March 2016; by July, between one third and one half of the island was covered in ash, putting the penguin colonies at risk.[3]

The island is largely unglaciated. It is approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) across with a peak elevation of 551 metres (1,808 feet) above sea level. The southernmost point is Fume Point, NE of which rises Noxious Bluff and the southwestern headland is Pacific Point. The easternmost cape is Pungent Point, the northernmost Reek Point, the northwesternmost Acrid Point and the westernmost Stench Point.[4]

Mount Asphyxia, a stratovolcano also known as Mount Curry,[5][6] dominates the western side of the island while the eastern half is a low-lying lava plain. It is an active volcano, with fresh lava reported in 1830 and numerous indications of activity since. Approximately 50% of the island is composed of tephra.[2]

1.
Southern Ocean
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As such, it is regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions, smaller than the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans but larger than the Arctic Ocean. This ocean zone is cold, northward flowing waters from the Antarctic mix with warmer subantarctic waters. By way of his voyages in the 1770s, Captain James Cook proved that waters encompassed the southern latitudes of the globe. Since then, geographers have disagreed on the Southern Oceans northern boundary or even existence, considering the part of the Pacific, Atlantic. Others regard the seasonally-fluctuating Antarctic Convergence as the natural boundary, Borders and names for oceans and seas were internationally agreed when the International Hydrographic Bureau, the precusor to the IHO, convened the First International Conference on 24 July 1919. The IHO then published these in its Limits of Oceans and Seas, Australian authorities regard the Southern Ocean as lying immediately south of Australia. Map publishers using the term Southern Ocean on their maps include Hema Maps, Southern Ocean is an obsolete name for the Pacific Ocean or South Pacific, coined by Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to discover it, who approached it from the north. The South Seas is an archaic synonym. A1745 British Act of Parliament established a prize for discovering a Northwest Passage to the Western and Southern Ocean of America, authors using Southern Ocean to name the waters encircling the unknown southern polar regions used varying limits. James Cooks account of his second voyage implies New Caledonia borders it, peacocks 1795 Geographical Dictionary said it lay to the southward of America and Africa, John Payne in 1796 used 40 degrees as the northern limit, the 1827 Edinburgh Gazetteer used 50 degrees. The United Kingdoms South Australia Act 1834 described the waters forming the southern limit of the new colony of South Australia as the Southern Ocean. The Colony of Victorias Legislative Council Act of 1881 delimited part of the division of Bairnsdale as along the New South Wales boundary to the Southern ocean. The limit then followed the west coast of Tasmania southwards to the South East Cape and then went eastwards to Broughton Island, New Zealand, the northern limits of the Southern Ocean were moved southwards in the IHOs 1937 second edition of the Limits of Oceans and Seas. From this edition, much of the northern limit ceased to abut land masses. As is discussed in detail below, prior to the 2002 edition the limits of oceans explicitly excluded the seas lying within each of them. The Great Australian Bight was unnamed in the 1928 edition, and it therefore encompassed former Southern Ocean waters but was technically not inside any of the three adjacent oceans by 1937. To perform direct comparisons of current and former limits of oceans it is necessary to consider, or at least be aware of, the limits of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans have therefore been extended South to the Antarctic Continent. The IHO readdressed the question of the Southern Ocean in a survey in 2000, of its 68 member nations,28 responded, and all responding members except Argentina agreed to redefine the ocean, reflecting the importance placed by oceanographers on ocean currents

2.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state‍—‌the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government

3.
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
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South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia, South Georgia is 165 kilometres long and 1 to 35 km wide and is by far the largest island in the territory. The South Sandwich Islands lie about 700 kilometres southeast of South Georgia, the total land area of the territory is 3,903 square kilometres. There is no permanent population on the islands, the United Kingdom claimed sovereignty over South Georgia in 1775 and the South Sandwich Islands in 1908. The territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands was formed in 1985, Argentina claimed South Georgia in 1927 and claimed the South Sandwich Islands in 1938. Argentina maintained a station, Corbeta Uruguay, on Thule Island in the South Sandwich Islands from 1976 until 1982 when it was closed by the Royal Navy. The Argentine claim over South Georgia contributed to the 1982 Falklands War, Argentina continues to claim sovereignty over South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The Island of South Georgia is said to have been first sighted in 1675 by Anthony de la Roché, a London merchant and it was sighted by the commercial Spanish ship León operating out of Saint-Malo on 28 June or 29 June 1756. At one time it was confused with Pepys Island, which was discovered by Dampier and Cowley in 1683, captain James Cook circumnavigated the island in 1775 and made the first landing. He claimed the territory for the Kingdom of Great Britain, British arrangements for the government of South Georgia were established under the 1843 British Letters Patent. In 1882–1883, a German expedition for the First International Polar Year was stationed at Royal Bay on the southeast side of the island, the scientists of this group observed the transit of Venus and recorded waves produced by the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. Seal hunting at South Georgia began in 1786 and continued throughout the 19th century, the waters proved treacherous and a number of vessels were wrecked there, such as Earl Spencer, in late 1801. South Georgia became a base for whaling beginning in the 20th century, a Norwegian, Carl Anton Larsen, established the first land-based whaling station and first permanent habitation at Grytviken in 1904. It operated through his Argentine Fishing Company, which settled in Grytviken, the station remained in operation until 1965. Whaling stations operated under leases granted by the Governor of the Falkland Islands, one was called a charnel house boiling wholesale in vaseline by an early 20th-century visitor. With the end of the industry, the stations were abandoned. Apart from a few preserved buildings such as the museum and church at Grytviken, in 1908, the United Kingdom issued further Letters Patent that established constitutional arrangements for its possessions in the South Atlantic. The Letters Patent covered South Georgia, the South Orkneys, the South Shetlands, the South Sandwich Islands, in 1909, an administrative centre and residence were established at King Edward Point on South Georgia, near the whaling station of Grytviken

4.
Chinstrap penguin
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The chinstrap penguin is a species of penguin which inhabits a variety of islands and shores in the Southern Pacific and the Antarctic Ocean. Its name derives from the black band under its head which makes it appear as if it were wearing a black helmet. Other common names are ringed penguin, bearded penguin, and stonecracker penguin due to its harsh call, Chinstrap penguins have an average body length of 72 centimetres and a weight of 3–5 kilograms, however their weight can drop as low as 3 kilograms depending on the breeding cycle. Males are both larger and heavier than females, the adult chinstraps flippers are black with a white edge, the inner sides of the flippers are white. The face is white extending behind the eyes, which are reddish brown, the strong legs and the webbed feet are pink. Its short stumpy legs give it a distinct waddle when it walks, the chinstrap penguins black-and-white plumage helps camouflage it in the water from predators such as seals. When seen from above, the black back blends into the dark water below. Chinstrap penguins have a circumpolar distribution and they breed in Antarctica, Argentina, Bouvet Island, Chile, the Falkland Islands, the French Southern Territories, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. Vagrant individuals have found in New Zealand, the islands of Saint Helena and Tristan da Cunha. Global population is estimated at least 8 million, the diet of the chinstrap penguin consists of krill, shrimp, fish, and squid which they swim up to 80 km offshore each day to obtain. The chinstrap penguin is able to withstand swimming in freezing waters due to its tightly packed feathers, thick blubber deposits provide insulation, as well, and blood vessels in the flippers and legs have evolved intricate structures to preserve heat. On land they build nests from stones, and lay two eggs, which are incubated by both the male and the female for shifts of 6 days. The chicks hatch after about 37 days, and have fluffy gray backs, the chicks stay in the nest for 20–30 days before they go to join a crèche. At around 50–60 days old, they moult, gaining their adult feathers, the predator of adult chinstraps is the leopard seal. Eggs and chicks can fall prey to birds, such as the sheathbill, penguins by nature hatch eggs and are social creatures. The childrens book And Tango Makes Three was written based on this event, 70south. com, Info on Chinstrap penguins Chinstrap penguin images Penguin World, Chinstrap penguins Animals and Earth - photos for conservation, science, education and you - chinstrap penguin photos

5.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians

6.
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen
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Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen, a Russian officer of Baltic German descent in the Imperial Russian Navy, cartographer and explorer, ultimately rose to the rank of Admiral. He participated in the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe and subsequently became a leader of another circumnavigation expedition, after the journey he published a collection of maps of the newly explored areas and islands of the Pacific Ocean. Subsequently, he commanded ships of the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets. The expedition was prepared by Mikhail Lazarev, who was made Bellingshausens second-in-command, during this expedition Bellingshausen and Lazarev became the first explorers to see the land of Antarctica on 28 January 1820. They managed to circumnavigate the continent and never lost each other from view. Thus they disproved Captain Cooks assertion that it was impossible to land in the southern ice-fields. Made Counter-Admiral on his return, Bellingshausen participated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, promoted to Vice-Admiral, he again served in the Baltic Fleet in 1830s, and from 1839 he was the military governor of Kronstadt, where he died. In 1831 he published the book on his Antarctic travel, called Double Investigation of the Southern Polar Ocean, russians remember him as one of their greatest admirals and explorers. Multiple geographical features and locations in the Antarctic, named in honor of Bellingshausen, Bellingshausen was born to a noble Baltic German family in the Lahhentagge manor, Saaremaa, Governorate of Livonia, now in Salme Parish, Saare County, Estonia — then part of the Russian Empire. He enlisted as a cadet in the Imperial Russian Navy at the age of ten, after graduating from the Kronstadt naval academy at age eighteen, Bellingshausen rapidly rose to the rank of captain. A great admirer of Cooks voyages, Bellingshausen served from 1803 in the first Russian circumnavigation of the Earth and he was one of the officers of the vessel Nadezhda, commanded by Adam Johann von Krusenstern. The mission was completed in 1806, after the journey Bellingshausen published a collection of maps of the newly explored areas and islands of the Pacific Ocean. Bellingshausens career continued with the command of ships in the Baltic. From 1812 to 1816 he commanded frigate Minerva and from 1817 to 1819 frigate Flora, the expedition was intended to explore the Southern Ocean and to find land in the proximity of the South Pole. Bellingshausen became the captain of Vostok, and Lazarev captained Mirny, the journey started from Kronstadt on 4 June 1819. Leaving Portsmouth on 5 September 1819 the expedition crossed the Antarctic Circle on 26 January 1820, on 28 January 1820 the expedition discovered the Antarctic mainland approaching the Antarctic coast at a point with coordinates 69º2128S 2º1450W and seeing ice-fields there. The point in question lies within twenty miles of the Antarctic mainland, G. E. Jones in his 1982 study Antarctica Observed. Bellingshausen and Lazarev managed to circumnavigate the continent and never lost each other from view

7.
Imperial Russian Navy
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It was expanded in the second half of the 18th century and by the early part of the 19th century had reached its peak strength, only behind the British and French fleets in terms of size. The First World War was mixed for the navy, with the Germans generally gaining the upper hand in the Baltic but the Black Sea falling under Russian control. The Russian Revolution marked the end of the Imperial Navy with its sailors fighting on both sides and its surviving ships forming the core of the Soviet Navy upon its creation in 1918. Under Tsar Mikhail I, construction of the first three-masted ship actually built within Russia was completed in 1636 and it was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein according to European design and was christened Frederick. During its maiden voyage on the Caspian Sea, Frederick sailed into a storm and was lost at sea. A boyar named Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin founded a shipyard at Tsarevich-Dmitriev fortress, in 1661, however, Russia was once again forced to abide by the harsh terms of a treaty, this time the Peace of Cardis. Russia agreed to surrender to Sweden all captured territories, and all constructed at Tsarevich-Dmitriev were ordered destroyed. Boyar Ordin-Nashchyokin, not grieving long over defeat, turned his attention to the Volga River, with the Tsars approval, the boyar brought Dutch shipbuilding experts to the town of Dedinovo near the confluence of the Oka and Volga Rivers. Shipbuilding commenced in the winter of 1667, within two years, four vessels had been completed, one 22-gun galley, christened Орёл, and three smaller ships. The ill-fated Frederick had been a Holstein vessel, Орёл became Russias first own three-masted, European-designed sailing ship, the ship was captured in Astrakhan by rebellious Cossacks led by Stepan Razin. The Cossacks ransacked Орёл and abandoned it, half-submerged, in an estuary of the Volga, unquestionably, the most celebrated Russian explorer was Semyon Dezhnev, who, in 1648, sailed the entire length of present-day Russia by way of the Arctic Ocean. Rounding the Chukotsk Peninsula, Dezhnev passed through the Bering Sea, the creation of the regular Russian Navy took place during the reign of Peter the Great. During the Second Azov campaign of 1696 against Turkey, the Russians employed for the first time 2 warships,4 fireships,23 galleys and 1300 strugs, built on the Voronezh River. After the occupation of the Azov fortress, the Boyar Duma looked into Peters report of military campaign. This date is considered the birthday of the regular Russian Navy. During the Great Northern War of 1700-1721, the Russians built the Baltic Fleet, the construction of the oared fleet took place in 1702-1704 at several shipyards. From 1703-1723, the base of the Baltic Fleet was located in Saint Petersburg. The bases were created in Reval and in Vyborg after it was ceded from Sweden after the war of 1741-43

8.
Sloop-of-war
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In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, thus, in the first half of the 18th century, most naval sloops were two-masted vessels, usually carrying a ketch or a snow rig. A ketch had main and mizzen masts but no foremast, while a snow had a foremast, the first three-masted sloops appeared during the 1740s, and from the mid-1750s most new sloops were built with a three-masted rig. The third sail afforded the sloop greater mobility and the ability to back sail, in the 1770s, the two-masted sloop re-appeared in a new guise as the brig sloop, the successor to the former snow sloops. Brig sloops had two masts, while ship sloops continued to have three, in the Napoleonic period, Britain built huge numbers of brig sloops of the Cruizer class and the Cherokee class. The brig rig was economical of manpower and, when armed with carronades, the carronades also used much less manpower than the long guns normally used to arm frigates. Consequently, the Cruizer class were used as cheaper and more economical substitutes for frigates. A carronade-armed brig, however, would be at the mercy of an armed with long guns. The other limitation of brig sloops as opposed to post ships and frigates was their relatively restricted stowage for water and provisions, however, their shallower draught made them excellent raiders against coastal shipping and shore installations. Bermuda sloops were found with gaff rig, mixtures of gaff and square rig and they were built with up to three masts. The single masted ships, with their sails, and the tremendous wind energy they harnessed, were demanding to sail. The longer decks of the vessels also had the advantage of allowing more guns to be carried. Originally a sloop-of-war was smaller than a frigate and was outside the rating system. A ship sloop was generally the equivalent of the corvette of the French Navy. The name corvette was also applied to British vessels. American usage, while similar to British terminology into the beginning of the 19th century, the Americans also occasionally used the French term corvette. In the Royal Navy, the sloop evolved into a vessel with a single gun deck. During the War of 1812 sloops of war in the service of the United States Navy performed well against their Royal Navy equivalents, the American ships had the advantage of being ship-rigged rather that brig-rigged, a distinction that increased their maneuverability

9.
Glacier
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A glacier is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight, it forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. Glaciers slowly deform and flow due to stresses induced by their weight, creating crevasses, seracs and they also abrade rock and debris from their substrate to create landforms such as cirques and moraines. Glaciers form only on land and are distinct from the much thinner sea ice, between 35°N and 35°S, glaciers occur only in the Himalayas, Andes, Rocky Mountains, a few high mountains in East Africa, Mexico, New Guinea and on Zard Kuh in Iran. Glaciers cover about 10 percent of Earths land surface, continental glaciers cover nearly 13,000,000 km2 or about 98 percent of Antarcticas 13,200,000 km2, with an average thickness of 2,100 m. Greenland and Patagonia also have huge expanses of continental glaciers, Glacial ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth. Within high altitude and Antarctic environments, the temperature difference is often not sufficient to release meltwater. A large piece of compressed ice, or a glacier, appears blue as large quantities of water appear blue and this is because water molecules absorb other colors more efficiently than blue. The other reason for the color of glaciers is the lack of air bubbles. Air bubbles, which give a color to ice, are squeezed out by pressure increasing the density of the created ice. The word Glaceon is a loanword from French and goes back, via Franco-Provençal, to the Vulgar Latin glaciārium, derived from the Late Latin glacia, the processes and features caused by or related to glaciers are referred to as glacial. The process of establishment, growth and flow is called glaciation. The corresponding area of study is called glaciology, Glaciers are important components of the global cryosphere. Glaciers are categorized by their morphology, thermal characteristics, and behavior, cirque glaciers form on the crests and slopes of mountains. A glacier that fills a valley is called a valley glacier, a large body of glacial ice astride a mountain, mountain range, or volcano is termed an ice cap or ice field. Ice caps have a less than 50,000 km2 by definition. Glacial bodies larger than 50,000 km2 are called ice sheets or continental glaciers, several kilometers deep, they obscure the underlying topography. Only nunataks protrude from their surfaces, the only extant ice sheets are the two that cover most of Antarctica and Greenland. They contain vast quantities of water, enough that if both melted, global sea levels would rise by over 70 m

10.
Metre
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The metre or meter, is the base unit of length in the International System of Units. The metre is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum in 1/299792458 seconds, the metre was originally defined in 1793 as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole. In 1799, it was redefined in terms of a metre bar. In 1960, the metre was redefined in terms of a number of wavelengths of a certain emission line of krypton-86. In 1983, the current definition was adopted, the imperial inch is defined as 0.0254 metres. One metre is about 3 3⁄8 inches longer than a yard, Metre is the standard spelling of the metric unit for length in nearly all English-speaking nations except the United States and the Philippines, which use meter. Measuring devices are spelled -meter in all variants of English, the suffix -meter has the same Greek origin as the unit of length. This range of uses is found in Latin, French, English. Thus calls for measurement and moderation. In 1668 the English cleric and philosopher John Wilkins proposed in an essay a decimal-based unit of length, as a result of the French Revolution, the French Academy of Sciences charged a commission with determining a single scale for all measures. In 1668, Wilkins proposed using Christopher Wrens suggestion of defining the metre using a pendulum with a length which produced a half-period of one second, christiaan Huygens had observed that length to be 38 Rijnland inches or 39.26 English inches. This is the equivalent of what is now known to be 997 mm, no official action was taken regarding this suggestion. In the 18th century, there were two approaches to the definition of the unit of length. One favoured Wilkins approach, to define the metre in terms of the length of a pendulum which produced a half-period of one second. The other approach was to define the metre as one ten-millionth of the length of a quadrant along the Earths meridian, that is, the distance from the Equator to the North Pole. This means that the quadrant would have defined as exactly 10000000 metres at that time. To establish a universally accepted foundation for the definition of the metre, more measurements of this meridian were needed. This portion of the meridian, assumed to be the length as the Paris meridian, was to serve as the basis for the length of the half meridian connecting the North Pole with the Equator

Closeup of National Prototype Metre Bar No. 27, made in 1889 by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) and given to the United States, which served as the standard for defining all units of length in the US from 1893 to 1960